Charitable Choice: Legal and Constitutional Issues


 

Publication Date: January 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Banking and finance

Type:

Abstract:

Soon after taking office in 2001, President Bush put forward a charitable choice agenda intended to expand the ability of faith-based organizations to provide federally funded social services without impairing their religious character or the religious freedom of beneficiaries. However, prior to 2001, Congress began enacting charitable choice rules for various federally funded social programs, including, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG), and substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. When Congress did not enact legislation to apply the concepts behind charitable choice to more programs, the Bush Administration issued an Executive Order directing a wide range of social programs to follow the rubric of charitable choice. Despite the focus on charitable choice during the Bush Administration, perhaps the broadest example of charitable choice rules are those established by the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193).

Since its inception, charitable choice has been persistently controversial; and President Bush's faith-based initiative made that controversy highly visible. Much of the legal controversy has centered on the constitutionality of the federal government directly subsidizing faith-based social services programs and on whether subsidized religious organizations ought to be able to discriminate on religious grounds in their employment practices.

This report provides analysis of a number of factual, civil rights, and constitutional questions that have been raised regarding charitable choice in general. The analysis is generally focused on those provisions enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law. More recent charitable choice rules may give rise to the same or similar concerns. Primarily, this report focuses on civil rights concerns that have arisen in the context of charitable choice and First Amendment issues, as well as recent legal developments related to charitable choice. It will be updated as events warrant.